The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union environment ministry has recommended clearing over 1,500 ha of forest for mining in an elephant reserve in Jharkhand. In its meeting on January 21-22, the committee that advises the ministry on forestland diversion, cleared two proposals by Jindal group of companies, JSW Steel and Jindal Power and Steel, for mining iron and manganese ore in the Saranda forest division. The forest is part of Singhbhum elephant reserve in West Singhbhum district and is considered one of the finest elephant habitats.

The Parliamentary Committee on Environment and Forests has found that the mission to clean Ganga and Yamuna has failed. It says undue investment on technical aspects like creating sewage treatment plants to prevent the pollution in river Ganga without involving people living on the banks of the river are the reasons for it.

Even as disposal and treatment of waste in Gujarat continues to pose a threat to residents in urban and rural areas, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has washed its hand of any responsibility of buffering residential and commercial estates from waste treatment facilities under its jurisdiction. It has told the Union environment ministry that there are “practical issues” related to creating buffer zones around such facilities.

Notwithstanding the risk tourism might cause to the big cat, the Centre is planning to promote tiger safari in the buffer zones of the tiger reserves. The plan comes at a time when the Supreme Court is hearing a matter on whether tourism should be banned in the critical tiger habitats of the country.

The National Green Tribunal has suspended the environmental clearance granted to the controversial POSCO steel project in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district. The project was cleared by the Union environment ministry in January last year. This was challenged by Prafulla Samantray, an activist from Bhoinagar in Odisha, in the tribunal.

Despite majority of the members of National Board of Wildlife (NBWL) rejecting the clearance for the Demwe Lower Hydro Electric Project in Arunachal Pradesh, environment minister Jayanthi Natarajan has kept its fate hanging in balance. In its meeting on December 13, the non-official members of the standing committee argued, on the basis of a site inspection report prepared by one of the committee's members Asad Rahmani, that the project if allowed will have devastating impact on the wildlife. The minister, however, said she will take a final call on the project.